FOOD AND FEEDING 687 



from dry to luxuriant green food is always undesirable for a 

 similar reason. Green grass cut short by a lawn mower 

 should not be given horses, as it is swallowed in an unmasti- 

 cated condition and leads to indigestion and colic. Potatoes 

 and roots are more suitable for ruminants than for horses ; 

 yet upon the latter they act as natural and agreeable laxa- 

 -tives, and form a palatable addition to dry fodder, particu- 

 larly carrots. The best variety of hay for horses consists 

 of good bright timothy or herds grass with a slight admix- 

 ture of red top and clover. Carrots should be sliced longi- 

 tudinally to prevent choking when given to horses. Clover 

 hay is dusty and apt to provoke " heaves " iu horses, and 

 that, together with rowen, is more appropriate for ruminants. 

 Bran is l3ut poorly digested by horses, yet acts favorably 

 as a laxative when given once or twice a week mixed with 

 boiling water and plenty of salt, constituting a " bran mash." 

 Bran takes the place of oats as a nitrogenous food for rumi- 

 nants, and is less expensive. Cottonseed meal, being 

 extremely rich in nitrogen, and usually in oil or fat, is not 

 easily digested by any animal, but may be given in quanti- 

 ties of a quart or two to ruminants, and from half a pint to 

 a pint to horses, daily. Cottonseed meal is supplied cattle 

 to compensate for a deficiency of nitrogen in the food, while 

 in horses it acts as a slight laxative and may improve the 

 general condition. Straw and corn fodder are not readily 

 digested by horses unless cut and steamed, but are suitable 

 for ruminants and are often preferable to a poor quality of 

 hay. The demands of the system for food vary in relation 

 to tissue change, which is diminished by rest, increased by 

 work, and either accelerated or decreased by disease. The 

 requirements for nutriment are greater during the growing 

 period and for the formation of the various natural products, 

 as milk or wool. The state of the digestive organs and 

 assimilative powers guide us in selecting the kind and quan- 

 tity of food desirable. In acute disease it is advisable to 

 feed little and often, the food being prepared in the most 

 digestible and palatable form, and in as great a variety as 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



